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This deal has been horrible for the companies that had existing warrenties with Gateway. MPC has still yet to get there act together and it is now April. My company has had 28 of these machines down since the begining of the year and only half have been fixed. I have NBD on-site service and I am not seeing anywhere close to that. I am moving to another PC manufacturer ASAP. Reply

With the 6 cell battery, this thing will weight over 5 lbs. Not really an ultra-portable in the classical sense, is it? But it seems this is what we have to put up with if one wants the Tablet features. Lenovo, Toshiba, and HP already have sub-3lbs notebooks in their catalouge running similar specs to the Gateway. Can you review those instead, if you want to do an ultra-portable review? Reply

As always, we review what we get sent. Needless to say, I'm not about to go out and spend $2000 on a notebook just to provide free press for a company. I've tried to get in touch with Lenovo, without much success. I'm working to get some stuff from Toshiba and HP that falls in the ultraportable range, so we'll see.

Honestly, I'm not quite sure why the notebook is so heavy relative to others. The case does feel pretty durable, however, so that's probably a large part of the weight question. The display doesn't really feel much heavier than a normal laptop LCD - certainly not more than a few ounces. Anyway, lightweight and flimsy may not be the right way to go either - I'd probably take the extra pound if it means the display hinges and other parts don't break after a year or two. Reply

I'm disappointed to see that Lenovo hasn't responded to your requests. I would really like to see their V and X series ultraportables up against the competition.

I bought my wife the Lenovo V series laptop that is almost an exact twin of the Gateway reviewed here, with the exception of the convertible screen. It is quicker than my desktop 3800+, weighs 4.4lbs with the 6 cell battery, and gets 255 mins runtime on, all for $1,250. It really puts the Gateway to shame. At least this time I didn't buy an expensive piece of electronics just to go online a month later to see a review of a cheaper, faster, better device that makes me want to throw up.

What I can't compare at home though is the LCD screen quality versus the Gateway. I would like to see if the Lenovo screens are better, worse, same. Especially on the V series versus the X/T series.

This makes me really want to see the Lenovo T60 reviewed to see how much dust the Gateway would be eating.
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Sorry about that - I actually had the image on our server but forgot to update the first page before the article went live.

I'm also a bit baffled about the docking port on the side... but then I don't see much reason for docking stations these days. All I really need is mouse, keyboard, and display - if I want more than that from a laptop, I'd probably get a nicer laptop rather than worrying about spending the money for a docking station. Reply

If you connect keyboard/mouse/monitor every day (or multiple times a day) it is probably convenient to only have to make one connection instead of 3. also, some docking stations offer ports the laptop does not - for example, most (if not all) thinkpad docking stations have DVI ports even though the laptop itself does not.

One reason this might be heavier than other tablets is the included optical drive - lots of the ~3lb ones ditch that, and the whole case can shrink as a result. Reply

Gateway does list the laptop as weighing .3 lbs less with a "weight saver" - I'm guessing a plastic piece that fills the ODD slot. I do have to say that ditching the DVD - except you would have an external unit - isn't a good move IMO. That's just marketing trying to cut weight at all costs. I suppose I could live without a DVD in a pinch, but I really wouldn't want to.

People that will spend $200+ to save themselves two connections are a bit out there, I'd say. The DVI port could be useful, but plenty of laptops have those anyway. Heck, ditch the docking port connector and give us DVI and we'd be set. Heh. Reply

a lot of people seem to refer to the screens as "touch screens" i thought they used some sort of circuit that involved the stylus. Do tablets have a "touch" or "digitizer stylus" screen? Or do both exist?

Personally i would prefer non-touch screen as writing on those can be difficult with my left-handedness. Reply

also if you configure the stylus right, then having the issue mentioned in the article is not a problem.

I carry a tablet around where I work. While I don't use the tablet function, its been pretty damn reliable. They seem to be a bit more durable than a normal laptop. This thing has seen its fair share of abuse, and it's never missed a beat. Reply

You can interface with the display using a finger, but for a variety of reasons I would definitely recommend the stylus. You get better accuracy, you can easily click or right-click, and you don't leave fingerprints everywhere. Reply

I wonder if you could get better battery life under XP tablet instead of Vista? Our E-155Cs are getting ~240-260 mins of battery life with the six cell battery under XP tablet while doing routine tasks and the display fully bright. (Which I agree is necessary)

Also you had mentioned in the article that the display would dim sometimes all on its own. There is a BIOS option, ALS control (Ambient Light Sensor) that allows the machine to control display brightness using a sensor on the laptop. This reason for this option is when you would want/need to use it in daylight. The sensor senses the extreme brightness of daylight and lowers the brightness of the display so that it can be read in full sunshine. Unfortunately I think it’s a bit more sensitive and can also lower the display brightness when it really should not. This can be simply disabled in the BIOS.

It wouldn't surprise me if XP lasts a bit longer in terms of battery life. Vista seems like it tends to keep the CPU in a higher performance state, at least on other laptops. The HP dv6500t, for example, rarely ran at lower than 1.6 GHz, even though it could go as low as 800 MHz (or perhaps 1 GHz?). One of these days I'll have to do a better XP vs. Vista laptop comparison, just to see how things stand. Reply

Or at least beaten with a hose. I haven't used a telephone cable for anything other than the household phone for about ten years.

And while the forward location of the (only) two USB ports makes it easy to pop in a memory stick or other peripheral, it makes using a mouse more than a slight nuisance as the cord will have to snake backwards across the optical drive.

One aspect of this table pc that was missing from this article was that it also can be configured with Bluetooth. A Bluetooth mouse is the perfect companion for this machine. No wires, USB wireless adapters necessary. Reply

that laptop is utter crap, it seems.
only people that really want something ultra-light and don't care for performance at all would be interested... and they would be better off with a pda or smartphone, with an additional portable keyboard if they need a lot of typing.

i dont understand why laptop makers don't make a decent convertible - at least 13-15", with reasonable graphic card and all... and even bigger laptops, even if they're not too comfortable for holding in one hand can still benefit from a touchscreen and a tablet-like folding. Reply

This laptop/tablet is for those who need to run a queries against an database, while programming that new interface for the next rev of the accounting app, while reading their email, while taking notes tablet style, all while connected to the corporate VPN and never having to touch an electrical outlet for ~4.5 hours in those day long meetings.

13-15" screens, discrete graphics, and faster CPUs all generate more heat, which requires better cooling, which makes them quite a bit heavier. And there's still plenty you can do with a laptop that you can't do with a PDA... even if you get a keyboard attachment (which pretty much makes your PDA heavier and less portable). As stated, this laptop certainly isn't for everyone, but it does serve a purpose. It was quite a bit easier to use on an airplane than even a slightly larger laptop, and forget about trying to use a 17" DTR if you're sitting in coach! Reply

Sorry to have to ask this question here but I was wondering when the P35 roundup article will be released? Gary Key promised it would come at the end of June yet here it is July and nothing. Will this roundup be delayed until the end of summer or is it cancelled.

quote:Sorry to have to ask this question here but I was wondering when the P35 roundup article will be released? Gary Key promised it would come at the end of June yet here it is July and nothing. Will this roundup be delayed until the end of summer or is it cancelled.

Sorry about the delay, it will go up right after the m-ATX roundup (which is upside down after NV and AMD had a driver war for IGP solutions this month) that finally starts this week. I have been trying to keep people updated on changes to each board with the short articles. We just received P35 boards from abit, Foxconn,and Biostar that have made it through the first test passes. Please email me if you have any questions about the boards or need further information. I will be glad to provide opinions on the eight boards we have now and an educated guess on the three coming next week. Reply

Sorry Gary, but another update in the µATX review update thread you started would be much preferable to this particular comment hidden in a totally unrelated review.
There are a bunch of guys waiting to hear from you about this and currently feel very let-down.
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